In creating its debut collection, Erly, which launched on Tuesday with seven SKUs, Jamie Chandlee and Dr. Hallie McDonald, a board-certified dermatologist, were inspired by their 11- and 10-year-old daughters, respectively. In fact, they combined their daughters’ names, Emerson and Lyle, to create the brand’s name. But, while their pre-teen kids served as a jumping-off point, Chandlee and McDonald consider Gen Z, now aged 13-28, the primary target for the brand.
Dr. McDonald’s in-office patients also helped shape the brand. “I noticed, especially in younger patients — in their teens, 20s and early 30s — the [ways they’ve been] influenced; the noise around skin care is really deafening, and there’s a lot of misinformation,” she said. “People think they need to use really complicated, long routines.”
The result is often skin irritations in the form of perioral dermatitis, irritant dermatitis and even the development of eczema, she said.
“Our mission was to develop [dermatologist-backed], clean, simple routines that are appropriate for the youngest people up until the most mature skin,” Dr. McDonald said. “We wanted to pare it down to basics and make a curated capsule that [works] for all skin types.”
Erly’s launch collection includes a cleanser, a moisturizer with mineral SPF for daytime, a night cream, three serums, and a brush for customization, like mixing a serum with the moisturizer. The cleanser and SPF are the most essential, Dr. McDonald noted. “If I could have one win in all of this, [it would be getting] people to wear SPF every single day,” she said. Erly tapped a Connecticut-based lab to help formulate its products.
The founders focused heavily on the packaging, understanding the importance of a brand’s aesthetics. Chandlee is also the CEO of Rank & Style, a shopping platform created to provide trustworthy recommendations. As such, she receives many PR packages allowing her to see many products.
“Though we’re really focused on Gen Z [in today’s landscape], we all know that the youngsters and the teens and tweens will come, and that’s why it’s important that the packaging looks a certain way,” Chandlee said. She described Erly’s brand identity as “confident and memorable,” thanks in part to its use of “instantly recognizable bold colors.” Its wordmark was inspired by the stirring motion of mixing serum drops into moisturizer, she said.
Erly, which was self-funded, tapped external experts to nail its visual identity: designer Lotta Nieminen for its product packaging and website and Fonzie for its brand identity.
“I wanted the formula to be hypoallergenic, fragrance-free and appropriate for all skin types,” Dr. McDonald said. She noted that brands with these attributes typically appear more “medicinal” and are found in the “aisles of CVS” — they’re not the brands most appealing to Gen Z. “We also wanted it to be beautiful and something [younger users would want] to put on their vanity,” she said.
Both co-founders noted that their daughters have used skin-care products that were too harsh for their young skin.
Erly soft-launched in its hometown of Austin, where it has hosted events inspired by lemonade stands. Chandlee noted the importance of educating customers about the brand IRL. “When people [hear] hyaluronic acid, [they think], ‘Oh, you can’t use that.’ But, [hyaluronic acid is] actually just a moisturizer, right?” she said. Through the pop-ups, the brand moved thousands of units of products prior to its official launch, even selling out of three products.
As for marketing, Chandlee and Dr. McDonald plan to gift creators rather than investing in paid influencer marketing. They are also developing an ambassador program, which they plan to kick off at the nearby University of Texas. They’ve already cast students there as models for brand imagery and have tapped them for ideas and feedback. The brand is launching direct-to-consumer, as well as on TikTok Shop.
Though Emerson and Lyle wanted to model for the brand, Dr. McDonald said, “if they’re front and center on the website, then it immediately turns into a tween brand, so we’re very careful there.”
